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LEONHARD'LEDERER, OE SULIZBACH, GERMANY.

PRODUCT RESEMBLING CELLULOID AND PROCESS FOR PRODUCING THE SAME.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 15, 1916.

No Drawing. Application filed May 2, 1907, Serial No. 371,533. Renewed July 1, 1916. Serial No. 107,150.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, Dr. LEONI-IARDIALED men, a subject of the Emperor of Ger any, residing at Sulzbach, Germany,have invented certain new and useful Chemical Products Resembling Celluloid and Process for Producing the Same, of which the following is a specification.

In the manufacture of celluloid camphor has hitherto been generally used as one of the principal ingredients, although many attempts have been made to find a cheaper substitute and to render celluloid less inflammable by the addition of other materials.

I have discovered that chloral-hydrate, chloral-alcoholate and similar materials as well as mixtures of the same are eminently suitable to replace camphor. The products thus obtained resemble celluloid in every essential respect and are moreover less in-. flammable. They may, of course, contain some of the admixtures usually found in eelluloid, and instead of nitro-cellulose organic acid esters of nitro-cellulose or mixtures of nitro-cellulose and organic acid esters of nitro-cellulose or mixtures of the same with organic acid esters of cellulose may be employed, without materially altering the process of manufacture.

Instead of organic acid esters of cellulose, 1 organic acid esters of hydro-cellulose or of celluloid, in order to obtain a product resembling celluloid and having the properties described above.

Example I: 5 parts by weight of nitrocellulose and 2 parts of chloral-hydrate. are

worked up in the known manner with the addition of alcohol or ether.

Example II: 3 parts by weight of cellulose acetate and 2 parts of chloral-alcoholate are intimately mixed together and then compressed, with or without the aid of gentle heating.

I may work also with acetone, acetic ether and other liquid solvents of nitrocellulose. If acetone is used, I may, for instance, mix

' two'parts by weight of nitrocellulose with 1 clusively, no change 1s necessary in the con ditions of working described above.

If it is desired in the above procedure if to replace the nitro-cellulose partly by acetyl-cellulose, for instance triacetyl-cellulose, the following process for instance, may be adopted: 3 parts of nitro-cellulose, preferably in the shape of a fine powder, are mixed with 2 parts of chloralhydrate, 6 parts of a 16 per cent. solution of'acetyl-cellulose in acetylene-tetrachlorid are added, which cor respond toabout 1 part of acetyl-cellulose, the mixture is well kneaded and finally gelatinized by means of 3 parts of acetone. The mass thus obtained is then treated further in the known manner. If acetyl-cellulose soluble in acetone be employed, acetone alone may be used as a solvent.

For the manufacture of films and similar products larger quantities of liquefying agents are used and the solution is poured on a suitable base. i

I proceed in the samemanner, if the solution of the mixture prepared from chloral and cellulose ester is to be used as a lacquer.

Chloral-hydrate may be used in combination with eamphor in such proportions, that liquefaction of the two compounds does not take place at ordinary temperature.

Various combinations of camphor or of a camphor-substitute or both with another chloral compound, or with a combination of such compounds, may also be employed.

What I claim is 1. The herein described improvement in the manufacture of products resembling celluloid, which consists in dissolving nitrocellulose and a chloral-compound without ca-mphor in a suitable solvent and then causing the solvent to evaporate 1 2. The herein described improvement in the manufacture of products resembling celluloid, which consists in dissolving nitro- I cellulose and chloral-hydrate devoid of camphor in a suitable solvent and then causing 10 the solvent to evaporate. r

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two witnesses.

DR; LEONHARD LEDERER.

Witnesses JULIUS TROCGER, PAUL OUBASCH. 

